The Houndstooth Gourmet

……or what to do with leftover pommes dauphinoise.

Over the weekend, I watched an episode or two of Top Chef season 3. If you’re a fan, you may remember the episode where the cheftestants were told to make a dish featuring chicken, potatoes and onions. It was a brilliant challenge. Think about those humble ingredients and how many dishes are made from them. From chicken pot pie, to chicken and potato casserole, it’s a cheap and accessible combination of food.

Last years’ winner of TC was Hung, who for this particular challenge, made butter poached chicken with pomme dauphinoise and a gorgeous looking au jus sauce. The dish, especially the potatoes, got rave reviews, as did Antonia’s (current season) potato gratin.I have since wondered what makes these potato preparations so magical; after all, it’s just scalloped potatoes, right? Or, was I  missing something?

I looked online for Hung’s pommes dauphinoise recipe to no avail. But, I did find this recipe, written by James Beard. Given the author, I thought “no need to look further, this is the real deal”.  The only thing I changed was the cheese. I had sharp cheddar on hand, and it worked nicely.

So, in the process of researching and making this recipe, I think I have learned a few things. I know for sure, that these were the best damn scalloped potatoes I had ever eaten. Here’s why-first, you have to use heavy cream. I used to make a bechamel sauce to simulate the thickness of cream, but the flour can make the sauce too thick over the course of baking. It was just never creamy in the end. The second thing I learned was to trust myself to cut the potatoes thin, and not use a mandoline to get them too thin. The potatoes held up much better when they were slice about 1/8 inch thick. Imperfectly, by the way!  My slicing them super think was due to concern that they would not be perfect and cook thoroughly. How many times have you or someone you know said “the potatoes have been cooking forever, and they’re still not cooked!!”

*raises hand*

Well, this recipe calls for the potatoes to be cooked uncovered-for a total of two hours in a low oven. Again, thinking that my potatoes wouldn’t cook through, I would turn the oven up to 425-450 and cook those suckers through. If the dish was boiling, well then good. That meant cooking them through. No need. Uncovered in a low oven for a  long period of time produced creamy, fully cooked potatoes that were infused with the fresh minced garlic that goes in between the potato  layers.

I’m telling you, try this recipe (and then walk 3 miles because there is a pint of cream in it *sigh*). I learned so much from this preparation of a humble ingredient. The best part was the leftovers, because the potatoes taste even better the next day.

Which brings me to this frittata. I’ve written about making frittatas previously, and can only say that once you’ve made one frittata, you will have endless possibilities using this method. I say method, and not recipe, because you can make your frittata, your way.

Here’s what I did; I cut a few sprigs of rosemary from my herb garden and minced the leaves. I sauteed about a half of a diced onion in a tablespoon of butter and tossed in the rosemary. After about a minute, I added about a cup of the leftover pommes dauphinoise and spread them evenly. I allowed them to warm through and brown a bit for 4-5 minutes. Then, I added 6 eggs, whisked, along with salt and pepper. I added a cup of shredded sharp cheddar on top and cooked the frittata until it was set on the bottom and sides. The frittata then went into the oven, under the broiler, until it was set and lightly browned.

I let the frittata sit on the counter for 5 minutes, before I put a large plate over the top of the pan, and turned it over to release it. Some potatoes stuck to the bottom, but I scraped them up and threw them back on top. No biggie!

This was a winner combination. The rosemary complimented the potatoes, and as with the potatoes themselves, the frittata was even better the next day. That would be breakfast today. Yum.

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Tags: cheese, potatoes // 8 Comments »